Rotatable hot metal car

ABSTRACT

A car for conveying molten metal comprising two independent bogies spaced longitudinally one behind the other in the direction of movement, said bogies carrying horizontally oriented bearings and being connected together by a longitudinal vessel having journals rotatable in said bearings, said vessel, with said bearings, forming a unit detachably connected to said bogies, and especially from frame plates having spherically movable engagement with the bogies one of which carries motor means for tilting the vessel, the detachable connections being provided by forming the frame plates of upper and lower sections mutually aligned by self-centering male and female interfitting portions, with readily detachable means securing said upper and lower sections together.

llmite States Patet Van Wierst [451March 13, 1973 RUTATABLE HOT METALCAR FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Inventor: Wilhelmus Lamberulus VanWiersl, 1,291,343 3/1969 Germany nos/271 Santpoort, Netherlands 73Assignee: Koninklljke Nederlandsche 'f 'f Fmlenza Hooaovens enstanhbfleken Asszstant Exammer-I-Ioward Beltran Ijmuiden, NetherlandsAttorney-Ha Hougmon [22] Filed: Oct. 26, 1970 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl.No.: 83,682 A car for conveying molten metal comprising two independentbogies spaced longitudinally one behind [52] U S Cl 105/271 105/183OS/366E the other in the direction of movement, said bogies [51] 9/02B61d 17/00 3/00 carrying horizontally oriented bearings and being con-[58] Field of Search l05/270 272 183 366 E nected together by alongitudinal vessel having journals rotatable in said bearings, saidvessel, with said [56] RefernceS Cited bearings, forming a unitdetachably connected to said bogies, and especially from frame plateshaving spheri- UNITED STATES PATENTS cally movable engagement with thebogies one of which carries motor means for tilting the vessel, the3,070,039 12/1962 Mohrm ..;l05/27O detachable connections being providedby forming the 2 g frame plates of upper and lower sections mutually3589303 641971 zz 1 X aligned by self-centering male and femaleinter-fitting portions, with readily detachable means securing saidupper and lower sections together.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures "I \V AVA /AVAVAVA ROTATABLE HOT METAL CARThis invention relates to a car for conveying hot materials, comprisingtwo bogies one behind the other in the direction of movement, saidbogies supporting a longitudinal vessel rotatable in bearings andremovable from the bogies.

Such cars are often used for the conveying of molten pig iron and if sothey are often named moving mixers or torpedo cars. They are often usedfor conveying pig iron from blast furnaces to steel works. As a rulesuch conveying takes place over rails, although this invention is alsoapplicable to cars for road transport. By the large contents of thevessels which may contain up to 350 or even 450 tons of pig iron, it ispossible to homogenize large quantities of pig iron simultaneouslytherein. Moreover, it is possible to add substances to the contents ofsuch vessels or to subject the iron in the vessels to for instance adesulphurizing treatment.

For several technical and economical reasons there is a tendency atpresent' to use moving mixers of gradually increasing volume. Arestricting factor is formed by the wear of the refractory lining at theinner wall of the vessels. If this lining hasbeen attacked too much, theentire car should be taken out of operation to repair the refractorylining. This requires the presence of a reserve in moving mixers,whiehmeans a high amount of capital investment for a steel factory.

It has been tried before to restrict such additional investments bymakingthe vessel removable from the bogies. This entrains that duringthe repair of the vessel only'the vessel itself is out of operation, thebogies being meanwhile used by putting another vessel upon them (GermanAuslegeschrift 1.29l.343). In such known mixer cars there is a kind ofhook structure near the ends of the vessel, by which such vessels can besuspended and fixed in the trunnions, by which it is possible to tiltsuch vessels. As a vessel hooked into the trunnions should no more haveany possibility of movement with respect thereto, the hook structure isprovided with a lock which excludes any possibility of movement. Thishas as a result that the str'uctureof the vessels and of the bogies andthe arrangement of the wheel bogies with respect to each other duringhooking in of the vessels should suffice particular and highrequirements of accuracy. This is so because, at the moment that thevessel is hooked into the trunnions, the bogies are entirely separatefrom each other. If in I this separate position of the bogies thetrunnions are not sufficiently in line or do not remain sufficiently inline during the one-sided application of a very heavy load (the vesselto be hooked in), the. bearings after fixing the hook will besubjectedto very high additional forces of shear and bending moments.The object of this invention is to obtain a structure which avoids suchadditional load of the bearings, without the need to make particularlyhigh requirements to the accuracy of the position of the trunnions.

In this respect the invention consists in that in a car as given in thepreamble above the vessel constitutes one unitary structure with thebearings, which unitary structure is detachable from the bogies. Therebyit is obtained that the trunnions and the hearings will always be andremain in line independent of the fact whether before or during thecoupling of the vessel to the bogies these bogies are not accurately inline with each other.

It is remarked that the suggested structure could seem to have thedisadvantage that a heavier load will have to' be lifted from thebogies. However, it has appeared in practice that this is hardlydisadvantageous. The weight of the bearings and of the trunnions issmall as compared to the total weight of the vessel and moreover theweight of the hook structure etc. of the above-described known structureis saved.

Although less high requirements have to be made to the new structure asto the accuracy during assembly, it is nevertheless of importance toraise the accuracy with simple means to the highest possible level. Itis in this respect possible to fix the bearings during assembly by meansof for instance fitting pins in their correct position with respect tothe wheel bogies. It is, however, more simple to apply according to apreferred embodiment of the invention a structure in which the lowerside of the bearings and the upper side of the bogies are provided withmutually fitting surfaces and tapered searching and aligning fittingedges, and with securing means to secure the system of vessel etc. tothe wheel bogies. Such last means for instance consist of drawing bolts,clamps, wedges and the like. It has appeared that with such structuresit is possible to obtain in a simple way accuracies up to about half amillimeter.

It should be possible to connect at least one of the trunnions of thevessel to a driving device to rotate the vessel in order to be able toempty it. It is possible to secure such a driving device to one or toboth bogies and to couple it to the trunnions during the positioning ofthe vessel. This is possible by means of usual detachable couplings orby means of belts and pulleys or sprocket wheels and chains. It is,however, preferable when applying the invention to embody this drivingdevice entirely or in part as a fixed part of the detachable system.Thus it may be preferable to embody the driving device as a planetarygear and to take up entirely in the detachable system. As, however, thepositioning of the system as explained above on the bogies is possiblewith high accuracy, a simple structure is most preferable in which thedetachable system includes a gearwheel on one of the trunnions whichwhen positioning the system on the bogies enters into engagement with apinion which forms part of a driving device remaining on the bogies whenthe vessel is removed.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to theenclosed drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a side-view of a mixer car according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a detail on an enlarged scale, in view and partly insection, illustrating the detachability according to the invention.

FIG. I shows two bogies with eight axes each diagrammatically and thesebogies are indicated by 1 and 2. The embodiment of such bogies may beconventional insofar as the contrary is not described and shown. On thebogies frame structures 3 and 4 are supported. Buffer and pulling meansare attached thereto and they are indicated by 5 and 6. With the aid ofpartspherical bearing supports 9 and 10 two frame plates 7 and 8 arecoupled to the frame structure. There are, of course, means (not shown)for keeping the frame plates 7 and 8 from tilting, such as springsbetween these plates and the frame structures 3 and 4. Such means areshown diagrammatically and are indicated by 33. On these plates 7 and 8bearings 11, 12, 13 and 14 are mounted. In these bearings trunnions land 16 are rotatable which are secured to the ends of the elongatedvessel 17. A driving device 18, being shown diagrammatically, serves fortilting the vessel 17 about its longitudinal axis if it has to beemptied. The vessel 17 is provided at the inside with a refractory bricklining not shown. Around the filling opening 22 there is a system ofsplash shields 21 being shown for sake of simplicity as one shield. Suchshield structures protect the wall of the vessel 17 against superheatingas a result of spilt liquid iron, which during filling of the vessel isspilt outside opening 22.

Reference numerals l9 and 20 in FIG. 1 show diagrammatically two stropsor ropes secured to hoisting means not shown. By such ropes it ispossible to tilt the vessel 17 from the bogies 1 and 2. This liftingcould also take place by means of jacks to be positioned on the rails oron the rail bed. 7

In FIG. 2 the upper part of this structure is shown for the left endthereof at a larger scale. A pinion 23 is driven from the driving means18. If the vessel is in the normal position this pinion 23 is inengagement with a driving wheel 24 secured on the end of trunnion 15 andso lifted off together with the vessel. It is possible to apply a casingfor shielding and enclosing around the driving wheel 24, said casingbeing for instance secured to bearing housing 11 and adapted to fit byfitting pins in holes to a mounting ledge or to a lower casing partpositioned on frame plate 7 around pinion 23. Bearings 11 and 12 aresupported on a base plate 25 which is provided at its lower end with aprotruding fitting edge 26, which has a tapering outer shape and thus isselfcentering. Cooperating therewith is a female fitting edge 27 onframe plate 7, into which fitting edge 26 fits. The lower face of plate25 and the upper side of frame plate 7 are provided with fittingsurfaces 28 and 29 which are supported one upon the other in mountedcondition of the vessel. The drawing shows the vessel in the positionsomewhat lifted from the normal operative position. During this liftingthe plate 25 slides over threaded ends 30 and 31 fitting into recesses32 in plate 25. In operative position the structure can be secured inplace by tightening nuts over the screw-threaded ends 31 and 32. It isof course possible to replace the screw-threaded ends by clamps, anchoror hammer bolts and the like, known as such.

It will be clear that within the scope of the invention many variationsin structure are possible. The drive for tilting the vessel could forinstance, as already indicated above, have chains or belts and pulleysor sprockets instead of the gear wheels 23 and 24. It will be clear thatthe structure at the right end of FIG. 1 could be embodied in the sameway as the structure at the left as shown in FIG. 2, without, however,the drive means and gear wheels for tilting the vessel.

Although above the invention has been explained and described for amixer car for pig iron, it could of course also be applied for conveyingmany other hot liquids such as other molten metals.

I claim:

1. An improved car for conveying molten metal and the like, said carcomprising a. two independent bogies spaced longitudinally one behindthe other in the direction of movement of the car,

b. independent frame structures carried by said bogies, respectively,

c. said frame structures having frame plate means and part sphericalbearing means coupling said frame plate means thereto, respectively,

d. bearings mounted on said frame plate means, and

e. a longitudinally extending vessel having longitudinally extendingtrunions rotatably mounted in said bearings and forming a unitarystructure providing for tilting of said vessel about its longitudinalaxis,

and said car being improved in that f. said frame plate means eachcomprises a lower section and an upper section,

g. said bearings being carried by said upper sections,

h. said lower sections being coupled to said bogies by said partspherical bearing means, and

i. releasable means separably securing said upper and lower sectionsrigidly and non-tiltably together, whereby on releasing said releasablemeans said vessel, bearings, and upper sections as a unitary assembly,may be lifted from said bogies and the lower sections respectivelycoupled thereto.

2. An improved car as claimed in claim 1 further comprising j. means fortilting said vessel in said bearings, said tilting means comprising 1.driving gear means carried by said unitary assembly, and

2. driving means carried by one of said lower sections, separate fromsaid unitary assembly and having driving pinion means engaging saiddriving gear means when said assembly is mounted on said bogies byconnecting said upper and lower sections.

3. An improved car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said upper and lowersections include mutually interfitting surfaces with tapered aligningedges for accurately positioning said upper sections for said rigidconnection to said lower sections by said releasable means.

4. An improved car for conveying molten metal and the like, said carcomprising a. two wheeled bogies located one below the other in thedirection of movement of the car, and

a vessel supported by the bogies and rotatable in bearings anddetachable from the bogies, said car being improved in that said vesselhas longitudinally extending trunions at its ends, said trunions aresupported in said bearings, said bearings and vessel form a unitarystructure, said unitary structure is detachably connected to saidbogies, and g. said detachable connection comprises separate upper andlower plate portions having mutually fitting aligning elements, saidupper portions forming a unitary assembly with said vessel, and saidlower portions forming unitary assemblies with said bogies, and saiddetachable connection comprising detachable means securing said upperand lower plate portions rigidly and non tiltably together ininterfitted relation.

* K i i l Patent No. 3,7 73 Dated March 3, 1973 lnventofls) wilhelmusLambertus Van wier-st It is certified that; error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

In the Caption Page, 901. 1, following the item "pg Appl. 1%.: 83;;82"insert the fol owing: Q

[597 Foreign Application Priority Date November 5, 1969 Holland 69.16705I Signed and sealed this 20th day of November 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARDM.F1LETCHER, JR. RENE D TEGTD IEYER Attesti-ng OfficerActing'commissioner of Patents M PC4050 (10459) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 U,SvGOVERNMENT FRlNTlNG OFFICE! [969 3$5'354

1. An improved car for conveying molten metal and the like, said carcomprising a. two independent bogies spaced longitudinally one behindthe other in the direction of movement of the car, b. independent framestructures carried by said bogies, respectively, c. said framestructures having frame plate means and part spherical bearing meanscoupling said frame plate means thereto, respectively, d. bearingsmounted on said frame plate means, and e. a longitudinally extendingvessel having longitudinally extending trunions rotatably mounted insaid bearings and forming a unitary structure providing for tilting ofsaid vessel about its longitudinal axis, and said car being improved inthat f. said frame plate means each comprises a lower section and anupper section, g. said bearings being carried by said upper sections, h.said lower sections being coupled to said bogies by said part sphericalbearing means, and i. releasable means separably securing said upper andlower sections rigidly and non-tiltably together, whereby on releasingsaid releasable means said vessel, bearings, and upper sections as aunitary assembly, may be lifted from said bogies and the lower sectionsrespectively coupled thereto.
 1. An improved car for conveying moltenmetal and the like, said car comprising a. two independent bogies spacedlongitudinally one behind the other in the direction of movement of thecar, b. independent frame structures carried by said bogies,respectively, c. said frame structures having frame plate means and partspherical bearing means coupling said frame plate means thereto,respectively, d. bearings mounted on said frame plate means, and e. alongitudinally extending vessel having longitudinally extending trunionsrotatably mounted in said bearings and forming a unitary structureproviding for tilting of said vessel about its longitudinal axis, andsaid car being improved in that f. said frame plate means each comprisesa lower section and an upper section, g. said bearings being carried bysaid upper sections, h. said lower sections being coupled to said bogiesby said part spherical bearing means, and i. releasable means separablysecuring said upper and lower sections rigidly and non-tiltablytogether, whereby on releasing said releasable means said vessel,bearings, and upper sections as a unitary assembly, may be lifted fromsaid bogies and the lower sections respectively coupled thereto. 1.driving gear means carried by said unitary assembly, and
 2. drivingmeans carried by one of said lower sections, separate from said unitaryassembly and having driving pinion means engaging said driving gearmeans when said assembly is mounted on said bogies by connecting saidupper and lower sections.
 2. An improved car as claimed in claim 1further comprising j. means for tilting said vessel in said bearings,said tilting means comprising
 3. An improved car as claimed in claim 1wherein said upper and lower sections include mutually interfittingsurfaces with tapered aligning edges for accurately positioning saidupper sections for said rigid connection to said lower sections by saidreleasable means.